Gamma Band Oscillations in the Early Phase of Psychosis: A Systematic Review

Abnormal gamma oscillations, measured by electroencephalography (EEG), have been associated with chronic psychotic disorders, but their prevalence in the early phase of psychosis is less clear. We sought to address this issues by systematically reviewing the relevant literature. We searched for EEG studies of gamma band oscillations in subjects at high risk for psychosis and in patients with first episode psychosis. The following measures of gamma oscillations were extracted: resting power, evoked power, induced power, connectivity and peak frequency. Forty-five studies with a total of 3099 participants were included. There were potential sources of bias in the study designs and potential artefacts. Although there were few consistent findings, several studies reported decreased evoked or induced power in both high risk subjects and first episode patients. Studies using larger samples with serial EEG measurements, and designs that minimise artefacts that occur at the gamma frequency may advance work in this area.